WPCNR THE HOUSING NEWS. From the Multiple Listing Service. (Edited) January 16, 2012:
The Empire Access Multiple Listing Service issued numbers on home sales in Westchester for 2011 and the news is not encouraging.
Single Family Home sales were down 4.4%, condominiums by 10.9% and Co-ops by 8.5%
Westchester home prices continued to bleed equity.
The average selling price of a Westchester single family home was $814,667, while the median selling price was $600,000, due to a drop in the sale of luxury homes over $1,000,000, that accounted for only 13.7% of sale down from 16% or more in the fourth quarter in previous years.
The decline in sales in all three residential markets is blamed on the banks. The Multiple Listing Service writes “there is convincing anecdotal evidence from Realtors in our region that the benefit of low (mortgage) rates (4%) is increasingly negated by tougher qualification rations, required higher credit scores, and slower processing by lenders. Overly conservative appraisals are said to be impairing transactions too.”
Consumer confidence is lacking. The service blames this on Westchester County’s “painfully slow improvement in the job market.” They point out that Westchester unemployment declined 3/10 of a percent.
In an unusual criticism of leadership, the Service writes,
“the greatest erosion of confidence is of political origin…there are no undisputed plans in place as to how the economy is to be managed…consumers don’t know what to expect…they hunker down, postponing any decision making of consequence such as home buying. If that is true, we’ll have to wait for elections to establish a firm action agenda for recovery, and the local real estate market in 2012 will look pretty much like 2011 as to sales volumes and prices, unless still deeper price reductions bring on a burst of sales such as appears to have been the case with co-ops in the fourth quarter.
Co-op prices in Westchester County stabilized, averaging $421,688 but the median sales price was $146,000 – off 15.2%--declining $30,000) Co-0p sales in Westchester increased by 49 from 2010’s 244 to 2011’s 293.
Condos continued steady, with 200 sold in the 4th quarter, just 4 less than 2010. Condo price data showed a deceptive impression of stability with the mean sale price of $421,888, not going down, while the median price was $338,000 (down 5.8% from 2011)
